Greys Court – A Tudor Country House

Greys Court, a Tudor country house at Rotherfield Greys near Henley-on-Thames, has a rich history and stunning walled gardens that are beautiful almost all year round. Whether you choose a long walk in the extensive gardens or take a tour of the house – or both – it is a wonderful place to spend an afternoon.

Updated April 2026 after a recent return visit, with new photographs and additional insights.

The Gardens

The gardens at Greys are beautiful in any season. Depending on the time of year, you may see billows of cherry blossoms hanging off the trees, drifts of daffodils or a myriad of hyacinths blooming in the borders, their scent heavy in the afternoon sunshine. Greys has a rose garden, a bluebell wood, an orchard, prolific kitchen garden and some of the most breathtaking wisteria I have ever seen.

You can also walk for hours in the fields surrounding the house. The views over the Chilterns are stunning.

Cherry Blossoms at Greys Court

The cherry blossoms have always outstanding at Greys Court, and now they are taking part in the Sakura Project, there are even more beautiful cherry trees throughout the gardens and grounds.

Wisteria at Greys Court

One of my favourite parts of the gardens is the Wisteria Walk.

If you are lucky enough to visit in Wisteria season (usually late April/early May) you are definitely in for a treat. The glorious, scented sea of purple is everywhere. Some of the plants are so old, they date back to the Victorian Era. The wisteria is underplanted with bluebells, so doubly stunning when they are both in bloom.

As you walk through the paths in the garden, the Wisteria climbing overhead seems to almost envelop you in a sea of lilac and purple.

My husband and I visited most recently in April 2026 when the bluebells were in full bloom, and the wisteria was just beginning to come out. We are hoping to go back in a week or so when the wisteria is as mature as in the photograph above, which was taken a couple of years ago.

Beyond the gardens, there are extensive grounds which are great whether you fancy a short stroll or a much longer walk.

Bluebells at Greys Court

One of my favourite parts of the estate is the Bluebell Wood. While it may look like a simple patch of forest for much of the year, in late April and early May it is a sea of blue flowers.

There is a wide, roped path through the bluebell wood at Greys, so that the flowers are able to grow undisturbed. Walking on bluebells crushes the leaves meaning the plants cannot photosynthesise, and they will not grow back.

Bluebells are a protected species in the UK, and it is illegal to pick them or dig them up. However you can buy bluebell bulbs and I planted just a few in my garden several years ago. They had a very slow start, but have now multiplied and spread. I’m always delighted to see them blooming so prolifically, but it’s nothing compared to the bluebells at Greys Court.

History

Greys Court offers a fascinating glimpse into life across the centuries. Since 1066, five families have lived on this site. The main part of the current house was built during the Tudor era, incorporating structures from the 1450s. Over the years it was updated to reflect Georgian tastes and later underwent Victorian alterations.

Female Owned

Greys Court has been owned or co-owned by thirteen women, defying historical norms that typically barred women from holding property. Among its notable residents was Catherine Carey, daughter of Mary Boleyn. Mary (sister of Anne) was a mistress of Henry VIII and it is widely believed Catherine was his daughter. Much later, in 1934, Evelyn Fleming purchased Greys for her family. Evelyn’s son Ian would later become a prolific author and the creator of James Bond. In 1937, Lord and Lady Brunner purchased the house for their family.

Lady Brunner, born Elizabeth Irving, was the last matriarch to call Greys Court home. An actress who left her career to raise her four sons, she filled the house with mementoes of her time on stage and screen. Although Lord and Lady Brunner gifted the house to the National Trust in the sixties, Lady Brunner continued to live there until she passed away in 2003. Some of the National Trust volunteers knew her well and speak very fondly of her.

A Twentieth Century Time Capsule

Today Greys remains much as the Brunners left it. While the fabric of the house and some of the furniture is clearly much older, many of the fixtures and fittings – including the bathrooms – are from the twentieth century.

Of all the National Trust Properties I have ever visited, this house is the one that feels most like a home to me. Many of the rooms appear as if the Brunners have simply stepped away and might return at any moment, and the National Trust have managed to preserve a warm, lived-in atmosphere. It is easy to imagine children running through the halls – you can almost hear the echo of their laughter and a the sound of a door slamming as they race outside into the gardens to play.

The House

The most beautiful room at Greys Court may well be the drawing room, redesigned in 1765 by Sir Thomas Stapleton for his bride. Bow windows offer stunning views over the gardens, and plasterwork roses, courting doves, bows and arrows on the walls suggest the theme of romantic love.

Lady Brunner’s study is decorated in an elegant but traditional British country design style. There’s a 1970’s television on the side table and sometimes there are stuffed toys that belonged to her now grown up grandchildren on the window seats.

The welcoming, light-filled library (below) is filled with shelf after shelf of well-thumbed books. This photo shows only a small part of the room.

Lord and Lady Brunner’s adjoining bedrooms, bathroom and dressing room offer a peek into the more personal side of their life and mid-century modern design. Their expressions in a portrait painted in their later years, which hangs in Lady Brunner’s bedroom, demonstrates how devoted they were to one another.

The kitchen is not unlike some of the kitchens I visited when I first moved to England in the 1980’s, albeit in a much more historic setting.

The huge family style kitchen on the ground floor appears relatively modern at first; a vast Aga oven, pink kitchen table and chairs and fabric encircled sinks hark back to the mid to late twentieth century, but impressive wooden dressers and medieval panelling remind you that this kitchen’s history goes back hundreds of years beyond that.

There’s also a wonderful traditional larder.

As Seen on Screen

Greys Court has served as a filming location for Downton Abbey, appearing in season 3 as Eryholme. It was also used in Agatha Christie’s ‘Poirot’ and the Midsomer Murders.

Visiting Greys Court

A place you will want to return to again and again, Greys Court definitely fulfils Lady Brunner’s hope that it would be “…a haven of peace and quietness for those in need…”, where “families can rest for a moment together, away for the pressures of present-day living.” We need those kind of places more than ever these days and I look forward to visiting Greys Court again soon.

Greys Court is located in Rotherfield Greys, just outside Henley-on-Thames. Please see the National Trust website for more details and opening times.

My husband and I are National Trust members and visit Greys Court regularly at our own expense. Information is correct to the best of my knowledge at the time of writing. Be sure to check with Greys Court and the National Trust website for opening times, full terms and conditions, and to check prices.

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